For 20 years I have traveled upwards of 200 days a year worldwide to help people and businesses be more successful. In this video I will share with you what I have found that will make you more successful than 90% of the people around you. It is a very simple idea, but one that exceedingly few people do. I hope you find this video of great value. I wish you every possible happiness and success in the new year. Love, John

PS – I have added several links below the video that should be highly helpful in your learning and development goals for 2015 and beyond. Please feel free to share them with anyone you might want to. Good luck!!

Here is a link with more information on the FREE Virtual Sales Kick Off: VSKO2015 (You don’t want to miss this one!)

Here is a link to the top 60 (or so) business books I have ever read: Top Business Books (you have to enter your email to get this list)

I recently read several motivational, success and self-help books and listened to a fantastic podcast by Brendon Burchard where he talked about the 4 Ds of Achievement. I agreed with 75% of his talk, but wanted the change the last D. So here is my take on the 4Ds of success, I hope you find this of great value, add your own ideas and share it with your network. I wish you every happiness and success – John

Years ago I stumbled across a book called True Success by an author named Tom Morris…and it changed my life. I read and re-read it and worked hard to apply the ideas it shared and they made a BIG impact on how I approached my desire to achieve success in my career and life. I then devoured every new book that Tom Morris wrote and continued to learn and grow from his writing. About three years ago I had the great good fortune of being asked to speak at a conference where Tom was also going to deliver a talk. He was amazing…great content, passion, energy, connection – a truly world-class presenter. I approached him after the talk and told him I was a huge fan, we sat down and chatted at length and now I am extremely pleased to call him friend. In this blog I wanted to share a sort of conversation between Tom and I on the three most important elements of creating a successful life. I hope you find this very valuable and share it with your entire network! Thanks – John

John:What do you feel are the three MOST important elements of building a successful life and career?

Tom: Ah! John! You are indeed a master of simplicity. Three things. Let’s see. Ok, here goes: Good values, good people, and good instincts.

Or to put it more fully: Good values within you, good people around you, and good instincts to guide you.

Successful lives and careers are built on the foundation of the right values, perceptive and healthy perspectives on what really matters in this world. Good values to start with will give you a strong sense of purpose, which we all need as a touchstone for decision-making. We can’t just let ourselves unconsciously absorb the values around us, unless we’ve already taken care of the “good people” imperative, and the values that are the most immediately around us are deep and lasting. We need to engage in the age-old process of self-examination that was recommended by Socrates. What are my values? What are my priorities? What means the most to me? Achievement without the right values can be self-destructive. With the right values, it can be deeply satisfying and ultimately fulfilling.

John:Perfect, let me summarize with one of my very favorite quotes, “When values are clear, decisions are easy.” Works well in both business and life.

Tom: It’s also impossible to build a successful life and career without good people around you, people to inspire you, spark you, encourage you, and sometimes question you and correct you. Who counts as good people? Good people are, simply, people with good values, connecting this element back to the first one. Family, friends, great colleagues – these individuals, as life elements, are primary ingredients for personal happiness and also for life and work accomplishment. Rarely does anything worth doing get done absolutely solo. We need other people. And they need us. I’m always saying, “Relationships Rule the World.” And I think that you, my friend John Spence, are a great example of this. You’re a relationship guy. You seek to serve others. And that sets in motion a virtuous cycle where others seek to serve you as well. You don’t do good things for others in order to get them to do good for you, which rarely ever works, in any case. It’s just who you are. You’re a relationship guy. For great perspectives on building a community of such people around us, I’d recommend to your readers the book Never Eat Alone, by Keith Ferrazzi, and Adam Grant’s new book Give and Take.

John:Thank you for the compliment, I am simply following what I believe is the MOST important thing I have ever learned, “You become what you focus on and like the people you surround yourself with.” A major reason I reached out to you Tom, because of the amazing work you do and the incredible value you and your work has added to my life. By the way, I would also I would add in Linchpin by Seth Godin, Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk.

Tom: Number three: We need good instincts about what’s appropriate, what’s healthy, what’s needed, what’s helpful, and how to get well positioned for attaining our goals. Instincts are taught mainly by being caught. We become like the people we’re around. Great artists, tennis stars, golf sensations, top business builders, and Nobel Prize winning scientists typically get to a point of mastery by hanging out with masters and watching them. I think that intuition or instinct is a natural endowment in us all, but that to be most effective, it has to be cultivated, groomed, and tutored. We become the best by learning from the best, which shows how this element is connected back to the second, good people.

Good people are individuals with good values, who associate with other good people, and who have good intuitions. And good people with all these qualities tend to be successful in work and life.

John:This is why I love the idea of building a Mastermind Group – I have about 18 people I deeply respect in my local Mastermind Group that come to my house about every 45 days to discuss BIG ideas, help each other, support each other and push each other. I can say with complete confidence this idea has dramatically improved my life.

Tom: But what about drive, some readers might ask. It’s embedded in good values. How about education? Your instincts can clue you in to what you need to learn in order to pursue the path that you feel is best for you. Or they can connect you with the right people who can advise you in that regard. Of course, many things facilitate success. I’ve spent my career expounding on seven things I’ve learned from all the great thinkers in this regard, in books like True Success, The Art of Achievement, The Stoic Art of Living, and the new ebook, The 7 Cs of Success. But, to specify the three MOST important things? I think that if you have these three, you can discover whatever else you need!

I recently came across this extremely powerful list of success quotes by Robin Sharma, a writer and philosopher that I deeply admire and respect. I was so impressed with this list that I sent him and note to ask if I could share it with all of you and he graciously agreed. I believe the 51 items he has listed (except number 7 for me!) are all spot on, and I have added a few of my own at the end. I hope you find this list very useful and share it with as many people as you can!

Every time you do what scares you, you take back the power that you gave to the thing that scared you. And so you become more powerful.

A problem is only a problem if you make the choice to see it as a problem.

Stop being a victim. Your business and personal life was made by you. No one else is responsible. To make it better, make better choices. And new decisions.

You can lead without a title. Don’t wait to get a position to stand for excellence, peak quality and overdelivery on every expectation.

Find your own style. Be an original. Every superstar differentiated themselves from The Herd. And marched to their own drumbeat.

Understand that when you play small with your success, you betray your potential. And the birthright you were born under.

Eat less food and you’ll get more done.

As you become more successful, stay really really hungry. Nothing fails like success. Because when you’re successful, it’s easy to stop outlearning+outOverDelivering+outthinking and outexecuting everyone around you. (Success is Beautiful. And dangerous).

If you’re not overprepared, you’re underprepared.

The only level of great manners to play at is “Exceedingly Polite”. In our world, this alone will make you a standout. And differentiate you in your marketplace.

Remember that the moment you think you’re a Master, you lose your Mastery. And the minute you think you know everything, you know nothing.

To double your results, double your level of execution.

Invest in your personal and pro development. All superstars do.

Get this year’s best Targets of Opportunity down onto a 1 Page Plan. Then review it every morning while the rest of the world sleeps.

You don’t get lucky. You create lucky.

When you push through a difficult project, you don’t get to the other side. You reach The Next Level.

Smile. And remember to inform your face.

Spend time in solitude every day. Your best ideas live there.

Debrief on how you lived out your day every night in a journal. This will not only record your personal history, it will make you uber-clear on what you’re doing right and what needs to be improved.

If your not being criticized a lot, you’re not doing very much. Ridicule is the price of ambition.

Develop a monomaniacal focus on just a few things. The secret to productivity is simplicity.

To get the results very few people have, be strong enough to do what very few people are willing to do.

Rest. Recover. It’ll make you stronger.

Buy a smaller TV and build a larger library.

Remember that the bigger the goal, the stronger a person you must become to achieve that goal. So goal-achieving is a superb practice for character-building.

Food fuels your body. Learning feeds your mind.

Don’t ask for respect. Earn it.

Finish what you start. And always end strong.

Breathe.

In business, don’t play to survive. Play to win.

Protect your good name. It’s your best asset.

Remember that words have power. Use the language of leadership versus the vocabulary of a victim.

Give more than you take. The marketplace rewards generosity.

Know that if it’s not messy, you’re not making progress.

Be a hero to a kid.

In business, aim for iconic. Go for legendary. Make history by how awesome you are at what you do.

Please don’t confuse activity with productivity. Many many people are simply busy being busy.

Your doubts are liars. Your fears are traitors. Stop buying the goods they are attempting to sell you.

The best anti-aging remedy in the world is working really hard.

World-Class performers have no plan B. Failure just isn’t an option.

You have the power to change the world—one brave act and one person at a time. Please use it.

From John

52. You become what you focus on and like the people you spend time with.

53. When values are clear, decisions are easy.

54. The minute you stop expecting life to be simple, fair and easy…it becomes simple, fair and easy.

55. The true measure of your life will not be in money, fame, or power – but in how much you loved others and how much they loved you.

56. Embrace an abundance mentality. Help as many other people as possible get what they want and you will get everything you want.

57. The quality of your life will be determined by the quality of the questions you ask…to others and to yourself. Quality questions lead to quality answers.

58. The three watchwords of excellence: Focus – Discipline – Action.

59. Just remember – you are not right, there are many, many ways to look at every situation and your way is not the only way.

60. Life is short, very short, do not waste time on the trivial… live in the moment and invest in yourself for the future.

The team from our marketing and design firm was meeting with a client yesterday who asked us to describe what we felt were some of the critical success factors in an effective B2B marketing campaign. Here is a high-level overview of how we see this critical element of business growth. Continue reading “Seven Steps to Successful B2B Marketing” »

Recently a young man I know, and have been a mentor to, decided to take a job in sales to help earn money for college. He is a bright kid, very talented and absolutely one of the nicest young people I know. So in an effort to give him a little help I decided to sit down and share a few key ideas I have on how to be successful in sales. Although this was written to someone brand new to the selling profession, I believe that ideas are applicable to any person who makes a living asking other people to buy what they are trying to sell. I hope you find some value in these suggestions.Continue reading “A Few Ideas on How to be Successful in Sales” »

This is a seris of short articles that John wrote for Gainesville Today Magazine on what he believes are the five most important factors for building a successful compnay. Clear vision, a measurable plan, culture of urgency, best people and superior customer service… Continue reading “The Five Factors of a Successful Company” »

Many of you that have been to my seminars have heard me talk about one of my favorite client companies: Philadelphia Gear (www.PhilaGear.com) and their fantastic CEO – Carl Rapp. I have a tremendous amount of respect for both the company and for Carl and recently asked him if he would give me a brief list of the key ideas that drive his business. Carl and his team (Also full of really super people) run a very successful organization in a brutally tough global market and I believe strongly that they have a firm grasp of what it truly takes to run a world class company. Take a close look at these key strategies… I think they are spot on. Continue reading “Keys Strategies of a Very Successful Company: PGC” »